BEIRUT (Lebanon) – Eighteen teams go into competition mode starting this Wednesday, beginning their quest for a place in the continental tilt as action gets underway in four cities in the FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Qualifiers.
There are teams, amongst the 18, who missed the bus by the proverbial whisker in their bid to make it to the previous edition of FIBA’s flagship event for National Teams when it was last hosted bySaudi Arabia in Jeddah last year.
There are also teams for whom this level – the lowest step on the FIBA competition ladder – provides a platform to showcase the progress their programs have made in recent years.
Then there are teams who will view the competition as a testing ground for their efforts at the grassroots level within the National Federations, while also seeking to understand where they stand in the continental pecking order.
Let’s break it down:
Group A: BRN, UAE, KUW, OMA, NEP
Venue: Dubai, UAE
Bahrain and UAE were both exactly one win away – Bahrain on two occasions – from making the grade for the FIBA Asia Cup 2025. The Gulf duo, therefore, starts as the favourites to finish among the top three teams advancing from the group to the Second Round.
UAE lost the plot in the final quarter of their First-Round FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers game against Lebanon, effectively shutting themselves out of contention, while Bahrain went on to host the Second-Round tournament needing to win one of their two games against India or Iraq.
Call it home pressure or a mishandling of things on court, Bahrain lost both games and were consequently forced to resume their quest at the base of the qualifying process.
Challenging these two is another Gulf squad with a point to prove. Having lost out in the race during the Pre-Qualifiers, Kuwait appear to have gathered themselves – with many of their mainstays proving their mettle in FIBA WASL games – and could well be another team to bet on for advancement.
Given this scenario, the road is indeed uphill for Oman and Nepal.
Oman also failed to advance from the Pre-Qualifiers for the 2025 edition, while Nepal are making their return to the continental level after last appearing in the 2021 Pre-Qualifiers.
Group B: KAZ, PLE, SRI, MDV, KGZ
Venue: Almaty, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan might be wondering if they really needed to play the Pre-Qualifiers at home, – if only they had not refrained from playing an away game in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers.
The CABA powerhouse stayed away from travelling to Tehran and, in a remarkable turn of events, eventually lost to India, handing the latter a ticket to Jeddah on a platter. That surely must still hurt every time they take to the court in Almaty, and it could well show in their performances this time around.
Palestine hit the headlines when they scalped eventual runners-up Philippines on their debut at the FIBA Asia Cup 2015, but since then have been unable to make it past the Qualifiers stage.
That said, the WABA squad starts as one of the hot favourites for a top-three finish.
Going up against these two are three teams expected to produce a battle of equals for the remaining spot.
Sri Lanka have often been forced to play second fiddle to regional giants India in SABA Sub-Zone competitions across all categories and might find the current competition the perfect platform to stamp their presence.
But that will not be easy, considering they face another SABA team, Maldives, as well as the up-and-coming debutants Kyrgyzstan.
Group C: INA, MAS, HKG, SGP
Venue: Seremban, Malaysia
This group is, arguably, the Group of Death in the FIBA Asia Cup 2029 Pre-Qualifiers First Round.
All four teams have a deep and rich history of producing competitive performances in FIBA Asia continental competitions, with a no-quarter-asked, none-given attitude on every appearance – especially when pitted against each other.
One may be tempted to give Indonesia and Hong Kong the edge, with their experience from appearing in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers keeping them in good stead, but writing off Malaysia, who are themselves riding a huge wave of success in club competitions, and Singapore would be a risk no basketball connoisseur would dare take.
Set your eyes on Seremban, and we promise a veritable treat.
Group D: THA, MGL, VIE, FIJ
Venue: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Let us look at this group from a dark-horse perspective. In that sense, Vietnam and Fiji certainly fit the bill.
Vietnam bring the experience of playing in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Pre-Qualifiers, having fallen out at the Sub-Zone level in the first round, but whether that experience will be enough to take on the likes of Mongolia and Thailand, who both lost opportunities to qualify to the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 by narrow margins, remains to be seen.
Going in Vietnam’s favour, at least on paper, is the fact that their only win four years ago came against a team from Oceania – Tahiti – but how much that academic advantage will work in the SEABA team’s favour also remains to be seen.
Fiji, after all, have the richer experience of playing, and, on occasions, finishing on top of the FIBA Oceania micro competitions.
FIBA